Hyundai splits from Young Plant

EXCLUSIVE: Hyundai has severed its Scotland dealership with Young Plant Sales. The franchise will transfer to a north-east business and become effective January 1. Young was responsible for establishing the Korean excavators and wheeled loaders north of the border over a 12-year period.

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One of the UK’s biggest independent plant hirers has blamed the collapse of Carillion for forcing it into administration. Hawk has a fleet of around 2,000 machines and has supplied equipment for more than 40 years.

Farrans Construction has been awarded the construction contract for the £49.5m project to improve a north-east junction once described as the worst of its kind in Europe. And R J McLeod wins the Berriedale Braes job.

More than 900 excavators and 400 dumpers have been bought by GAP Group as spending in the first eight months of its trading year reaches £58m. And that doesn’t include investment in the commercial vehicle fleet.

A 17-year-old operator has been given a £100,000 excavator to develop his skills. Blair Hughes works for Glasgow-based Clearwater Group and has been given responsibility for a new JCB 220X, one of the first in Scotland.

A seven-mile section of the Aberdeen Bypass project will be fully open to traffic tomorrow (Wednesday). And a 1.1m contract has been awarded for ground investigations on a five-mile stretch of the A9 dualling.

New workload statistics make “grim reading” for Scotland’s civil engineering contractors. Workloads reduced for a third consecutive quarter, tipping the sector into recession says the industry's trade body.

A 47-year-old employee of quarry equipment company SCG Supplies was crushed to death this week as he demonstrated a machine. Andrew Darling was showing the crusher to Neil Williams Group – his former employer.

Scotland’s civil engineering contractors are backing a campaign to prevent road workers being put at risk by angry drivers. Employees are under threat from dangerous driving and physical or verbal abuse.

Several thousand items of plant and equipment used on the construction of the Forth Crossing are up for auction. Telehandlers, generators, work platforms and small plant are among more than 1,000 lots.

There could be more casualties among smaller supply chain companies as Scotland’s construction industry continues to wrestle with “an unprecedented sequence of problems” warns a business recovery expert.

In the week that a search is launched for Scotland’s best engineering and construction projects, economy secretary Keith Brown has confirmed the country’s most expensive road scheme is six months behind schedule.

Galliford Try is to raise £150m to help meet its additional financial obligations on the Aberdeen bypass in the wake of the Carillion collapse. Balfour Beatty has already estimated its cost at £35-£45m.

Two companies have joined forces to compete against some of the biggest names in Scotland’s engineering industry. “The potential for this merged business is exciting,” says Jim Stevenson of Walkerweld.

The Scottish Government says contingency plans are in place for contracts affected by the collapse of Carillion, including the Aberdeen Bypass where the contractor is part of the construction consortium.

West of Scotland Heavy Haulage, one of the country’s best-known specialist transport companies, has entered administration and ceased trading with immediate effect in the wake of growing competition and rising costs.

The Beauly-Denny overhead transmission line project has won the prize for the Greatest Contribution to Scotland at the Saltire Civil Engineering Awards. The M8 M73 M74 motorway improvements was also a winner.

Construction firms bidding for work in North Lanarkshire will need to sign an agreement protecting employees’ rights. The Unite trade union said it expects other local authorities to sign up to similar agreements.

Daviot Group, the Highland company that last year described itself as one of the fastest-growing civil engineering businesses in the UK, has collapsed with the loss of all 31 jobs. But its sister plant company survives.

Contractors are hoping for good weather this weekend to start work on a bridge demolition as part of the Aberdeen bypass scheme. Traffic is due to switch lanes today (Wednesday) in preparation for the work.

Three joint ventures remain in the race to build the next section of the A9 dual carriageway. Economy secretary Keith Brown announced the contenders while on a visit to the almost-completed first stretch.

A contractor is expected to be announced in the first half of next year for the £7m demolition of the oldest nuclear reactor at Dounreay. The winner will tackle 600 tonnes of steelwork standing on 25-metre diameter foundations.

Two directors of a Highlands construction and civil engineering business have been disqualified from running or controlling any further companies. 'They have paid the price,' says the Insolvency Service.

EXCLUSIVE Long-standing Liebherr customer Bernard Hunter has used two machines from its fleet to dismantle the trio of Liebherr tower cranes that dominated the skyline during construction of the Queensferry Crossing.

Civil engineering business Land Engineering (Scotland) has been placed in administration with 135 employees made redundant with immediate effect. Another 249 employees have transferred to French-owned Idverde Ltd.

One of Scotland’s best-known plant hirers is stepping back from the industry. Tom Blackwood of Blackwood Plant Hire has sold the business to a team led by sales director Paul McCormack and plant manager Allan Wilson.

Scotland’s construction industry generated total output of £14.5 billion last year, slightly down on the record £14.7 billion in 2015. The reduction was due mainly to a slump in infrastructure work which fell to £3.1 billion.

Transport Scotland has started a search for SME contractors to carry out advance works in preparation for future construction on the A9. The £100m Luncarty to Birnam section is expected to start by the end of this year.

JCB has moved into the $8 billion powered access industry for the first time with chairman Lord Bamford declaring: “It’s a market that is ripe for a new supplier.” There will be 27 models available by the end of the year.

The organisation that monitors the image of the construction industry is to crack down on illegal workers and poor road safety practices. It says they are “pressing issues” requiring a more concerted effort.

A plant hire manager has been jailed for two years over the collapse of a work platform in which one worker died and another was seriously injured. The platform plunged 28 metres in Glasgow in June 2012.

Terex is selling its UK-based compact equipment business to a subsidiary of French manufacturer Mecalac as it continues to offload its interests in small plant. It follows the sale of its German operation earlier this year.

A fleet of equipment from Liebherr-Rental has been playing a crucial role in a £120m project to improve water quality in Ayrshire and parts of East Renfrewshire. “...they really excelled on this tough job.”

Road contractors, plant hirers and council highways departments are on high alert as the country experiences its first winter snowfalls. Local authorities have been revealing their plans to keep Scotland moving.

Scotland’s onshore wind farm industry, which has poured hundreds of millions of pounds into the civil engineering and plant sectors, could grind to a halt unless the UK government makes a commitment to its future.

Midlothian waste and construction services business NWH Group is going shopping with £7m worth of bank backing and said it is looking at a number of companies that could complement its existing activities.

Gordon Dunne, the former managing director of the Dunne Group, is back behind his desk…just weeks after his business failed. He's leading a new division specialising in reinforced concrete frame construction.

Contractors say a report that roads are continuing to crumble has come as no surprise. The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (Scotland) told Scottish Plant it has lobbied consistently for an increase in funding.

Civil engineering contractors and plant hirers will benefit from a £42m-a-year windfall for flood protection schemes. The cash will fund 40 new protection projects and around 10,000 families will benefit.

Terex Trucks has announced a further 65 redundancies at its Newhouse plant. Management at the Volvo-owned business blamed market conditions and a downturn in global demand for their articulated and rigid trucks.

Progress on the country’s transport network has accelerated again with civil engineers reaching milestones on major road and rail schemes. One of the biggest cranes in Europe has been involved at a motorway job. VIDEOS

One of the Highlands’ top civil engineering companies has signed up for a campaign to help tackle plant and equipment theft. It has been set up following a huge rise in thefts from building sites in the north.

It’s a new company but the face remains the same…for now. Peter Yarwood, one of Scotland’s longest-established breaker and attachments specialists, is paving the way for a gradual exit from the business.

The 5,600-tonne north approach viaduct of the Queensferry Crossing has been fully launched in what has been called “one of the most technically challenging operations of its type ever performed”. VIDEO

As most football coaches will tell you, the best squads are a combination of experience and youth and Scotland’s plant owners believe they have the right mix as they prepare for a challenging season ahead.

Liebherr Group pulled in the biggest revenue in its history last year in spite of a static market in Western Europe, its most important sales region. And it’s hoping for a “positive impetus” from Bauma in April.

The contract worth up to £55m to surface Scotland’s biggest road job has been won by Breedon Aggregates and Whitemountain. The 50/50 joint venture will supply and lay more than 500,000 tonnes of material.

Two heavyweights of the rental sector faced up to each other at a recent plant theft conference and exhibition. The event was attended by more than 200 construction industry representatives and150 police officers.

Banks Mining has been praised by an MSP for prioritising local firms in the supply chain for its operations at the Rusha surface mine in West Lothian. It’s spending £4m a year with central belt companies.

The road engineer who led many of Scotland’s landmark schemes has been recognised for a Lifetime Contribution to Transport and BAM Nuttall has won a top award for “outstanding” work on the rail network.

The joint venture building a £500m motorway project has told residents of three towns how they’ll be affected in the coming months. Improvements at Raith Junction will require “complex” traffic management.

Could this be the most expensive stretch of road in the country? Originally awarded at a cost of £9.2m, the contract for a 400-metre section on the banks of Loch Lomond has been completed...a year behind schedule.

An award-winning Glasgow firm has become the second Scottish demolition contractor to bite the dust this year. A liquidator has been appointed at Hunter Demolition following a lengthy battle with HMRC.

The buildings that will become the operational nerve centre for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project have started arriving on site. They're being supplied by a local firm to house 200 office staff.

Eight of the UK’s top hirers have met in Glasgow to explore new ways of tackling the industry’s £800m theft problem. The exchange of information is vital if we’re going to reduce theft said a spokesman.

Scotland’s JCB dealer has said it will sell the company’s new dumpers in due course. JCB entered the market with Terex-built machines but Scot-JCB is already a player through a sister company that handles the Thwaites range.

The changing fortunes of Scotland’s construction industry are reflected in the latest listings by a business magazine that reveals improved performances from quarry firms and plant companies but a mixed bag for civil engineers.

Transport Scotland and its contractors continue to face problems on two trunk road projects just 15 miles apart. One is 35 weeks behind schedule and the other is still having landslide problems after £9m worth of investment.

The construction army that will build Aberdeen’s Western Peripheral Route is on the move. Activity will be seen across the north east as earthworks begin and preparations are made for the first sections of tarmac.

Two of Scotland’s biggest plant hirers have invested a total of £8.5m in their JCB fleets. Lomond has spent £6m on a package including new generation midis while Blackwood has taken on 35 machines at a cost of £2.5m.

A plant hire contract worth £20m will be awarded in the next few weeks for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route as procurement enters a crucial phase. Earthworks and aggregates jobs are also up for grabs.

Scotland’s demolition fraternity failed to repeat last year’s success at tonight’s World Demolition Awards in Amsterdam. Central Demolition of Bonnybridge and Glasgow’s Hunter Demolition were both edged out.

Nearly half of all infrastructure projects currently in the British planning pipeline are for renewable energy. A total of £81 billion is expected to to be invested in 405 schemes currently being planned.

Four contractors will fight it out for the first phase of the £3 billion programme to dual the A9. Contract award is expected next summer and the successful bidder will widen the stretch to full dual carriageway.

The industry’s new ‘think tank’ has been given the seal of approval by Nicola Sturgeon. The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre will give 30,000 businesses access to a team of academic experts. VIDEO

A Scots demolition company has reached the final stages of a worldwide awards scheme at the first time of asking. Central Demolition is shortlisted in two categories for the awards in Amsterdam in November. VIDEO

Jones Bros., the Welsh civil engineering group, has appointed one of its most experienced managers to lead operations in Scotland just weeks after it declared it was “extremely optimistic” about its future here.